PSYC 1020 TRENT FINAL PAPER 2026
TESTED QUESTIONS WITH ACCURATE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
●● sensory adaptation.
Answer: tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to
a stimulus that is unchanging
●● bottom-up processing.
Answer: analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to
the brain's integration of sensory information
- register raw stimuli
- convert to neural impulses
- relay to the brain
●● top-down processing.
Answer: information processing guided by higher-level mental
processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience
and expectations
- organizes, identifies and interprets sensation
- form mental representation
●● Retina.
,Answer: the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the
receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons
●● proximal stimulus.
Answer: In perception, it is the information our sensory receptors
receive about the object.
●● distal stimulus.
Answer: In perception, it is the actual object or event out there in the
world, as opposed to its perceived image.
●● proximal stimulus vs distal stimulus.
Answer: Proximal stimulus is the stimulation that actually occurs when
your sensory receptors are activated... the neural activity.
Distal stimulus is the actual stimulus or object in the real world that you
end up sensing and then perceiving, which results in the proximal
stimulus.
●● cone cells.
Answer: work best in bright light and enable you to see colors;
concentrated in fovea
●● rod cells.
,Answer: work best in dim light and enable you to see black, white, and
shades of gray; concentrated in periphery
●● just noticeable difference (JND).
Answer: the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be
detected
●● Weber's Law.
Answer: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must
differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant
amount); larger stimulus, larger JND
●● Area VI.
Answer: the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual
cortex; activate feature detectors with specialized neutrons that respond
to specific aspects of stimuli (e.g. edges, angles, size) to determine what
stimuli is
Neural data --> Thalamus --> PVC (Occipital)
●● binocular cues.
Answer: depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes
●● absolute threshold.
, Answer: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus
50 percent of the time
●● signal detection theory.
Answer: a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a
faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise).
●● perceptual hypothesis.
Answer: assumptions brain uses to make quick, automatic extrapolations
●● Gestalt Principles.
Answer: ways for the brain to infer missing parts of a picture when a
picture is incomplete; form of top-down processing
●● monocular cues.
Answer: depth cues available to either eye alone; help determine size,
distance from motion parallax and pictoral cues
●● familiar size (monocular cue).
Answer: two objects placed higher than one another look different sizes
but are actually the same
●● linear perspective (monocular cue).
TESTED QUESTIONS WITH ACCURATE
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
●● sensory adaptation.
Answer: tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to
a stimulus that is unchanging
●● bottom-up processing.
Answer: analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to
the brain's integration of sensory information
- register raw stimuli
- convert to neural impulses
- relay to the brain
●● top-down processing.
Answer: information processing guided by higher-level mental
processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience
and expectations
- organizes, identifies and interprets sensation
- form mental representation
●● Retina.
,Answer: the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the
receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons
●● proximal stimulus.
Answer: In perception, it is the information our sensory receptors
receive about the object.
●● distal stimulus.
Answer: In perception, it is the actual object or event out there in the
world, as opposed to its perceived image.
●● proximal stimulus vs distal stimulus.
Answer: Proximal stimulus is the stimulation that actually occurs when
your sensory receptors are activated... the neural activity.
Distal stimulus is the actual stimulus or object in the real world that you
end up sensing and then perceiving, which results in the proximal
stimulus.
●● cone cells.
Answer: work best in bright light and enable you to see colors;
concentrated in fovea
●● rod cells.
,Answer: work best in dim light and enable you to see black, white, and
shades of gray; concentrated in periphery
●● just noticeable difference (JND).
Answer: the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be
detected
●● Weber's Law.
Answer: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must
differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant
amount); larger stimulus, larger JND
●● Area VI.
Answer: the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual
cortex; activate feature detectors with specialized neutrons that respond
to specific aspects of stimuli (e.g. edges, angles, size) to determine what
stimuli is
Neural data --> Thalamus --> PVC (Occipital)
●● binocular cues.
Answer: depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes
●● absolute threshold.
, Answer: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus
50 percent of the time
●● signal detection theory.
Answer: a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a
faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise).
●● perceptual hypothesis.
Answer: assumptions brain uses to make quick, automatic extrapolations
●● Gestalt Principles.
Answer: ways for the brain to infer missing parts of a picture when a
picture is incomplete; form of top-down processing
●● monocular cues.
Answer: depth cues available to either eye alone; help determine size,
distance from motion parallax and pictoral cues
●● familiar size (monocular cue).
Answer: two objects placed higher than one another look different sizes
but are actually the same
●● linear perspective (monocular cue).
